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The One After The Superbowl, Part 1
"The One After The Superbowl" is a double-length episode of the second season of Friends, which aired on January 28, 1996, immediately after NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XXX. Plot Ross reminisces about his former pet monkey Marcel after watching the Monkeyshine Beer ad, which happens to feature a monkey with uncanny similarities to Marcel. During a short stay in Los Angeles for a paleontology conference, he visits the zoo he gave Marcel up to, and asks for his monkey, who he can't seem to find. The zoo owner, however, regretfully informs him that his monkey had gotten sick and died. Saddened and shocked by the news, Ross is taken by surprise by one of the zoo cleaners when the latter reveals to him that Marcel was stolen during a break-in. Following his debut on Days Of Our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray, Joey is excited about receiving fan-mail from a certain Erika Ford. What he doesn't realize is that Erika is a lunatic who is obsessed with him and thinks he's actually Drake, and not an actor. This he learns at his expense when a guy chokes at Becco restaurant he and Erika are dining in and she introduces him as Drake and prompts him to save the choking guy's life, which he's unable to do. Eventually, Joey breaks up with Erika - when she sees him on the show kissing Sabrina in Salem, she thinks he's cheating on her. Ross helps Joey out by trying to pass him off as Hans Ramoray, Drake's evil twin. Rachel helps by saying he pretended to be Drake to sleep with her and throws a glass of water at Joey; Monica and Chandler do likewise. Phoebe is hired by a cute guy, Rob, at a library to sing to children. He thinks that Phoebe's fantastic - as the two end up kissing - and the kids find Phoebe's songs terrific. The parents, however, are shocked by her repertoire, which contains inappropriate lyrics about life's painful truths. When he tries to dissuade Phoebe from such songs by suggesting she sing about farm animals, she misinterprets him to sing about the cruel way they're raised and killed for food. Phoebe is ultimately fired from the library, but the children enjoy her songs so much that they come to listen to her at Central Perk. After some research and calls, Ross discovers that the monkey starring in the Monkeyshine Beer ad is actually the one he used to keep as a pet. What's more, Marcel is in town, filming Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattan. The guys visit the set, but are not allowed anywhere near Marcel. When the gang sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Marcel's favorite song, a cappella, Marcel recognizes it and re-unites with Ross. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courteney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Dan Castellaneta - The Zoo Employee David Crane - Director Roark Critchlow - Dr. Mike Horton Chris Isaak - Rob Donnen Brooke Shields - Erika Ford Thomas James Kepner - Concerned Parent Karman Kruschke - Coma Woman Lawrence Mandley - Security Guard Sean Masterson - 'Monkeyshine' Guy Tahj Mowry - Kid Fred Willard - Mr. Lipson, the Zoo administrator D. Elliot Woods - Waiter Kevin Bright - Director Marta Kauffman - Director Crew Directed By: Michael Lembeck Written By: Jeff Astrof, Mike Sikowitz & Michael Borkow Reception Entertainment Weekly rates the episode "C", calling it "fragmented, poorly paced, and only sporadically funny. Cramming the already crowded ensemble with celebs may have been a ratings grabber but the results are forced sitcomedy and stilted acting". The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends write of the first part "There are some lovely moments of slapstick", mentioning "what Matthew Perry does with the washing-up liquid bottle when he first sees Erika", though call Isaak "positively wooden". Brooke Shields' performance in this episode impressed NBC so much that she was offered her own sitcom, Suddenly Susan, for the network's 1996 fall lineup. Trivia *This is the most-watched episode of Friends, drawing 52.9 million viewers on it's premiere night. *Chris Isaak appears in this episode as Rob Donnen. Three episodes later, while Ross and Rachel are in the planetarium in "The One Where Ross And Rachel...You Know", Isaak's song "Wicked Game" is played by Ross. *Ross tries to repel Erika from Joey by stating that he's not Drake, but Hans Ramoray, Drake's evil twin. In Season 7, the Days Of Our Lives show on Friends actually introduces a twin brother of Drake, Stryker Ramoray. **Contrary to most doppelganger characters in TV and film production, Stryker is acted by a lookalike of Joey. This is due to Joey not wanting to audition for the part as he assumes he's offered the part directly. *Instead of reveling in others' joys, Joey scoffs about the monkey which gets to make movies after all his efforts to appear on TV. This he does again in season 5 with Ross' son Ben in The One Where Rachel Smokes. *Director Michael Lembeck won the 1996 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Comedy Series for this episode. This was the only Emmy won by the series in that year. *Barney the dinosaur was mentioned in this episode. *Brooke Shields' character, Erika, has two hair strands framing her face during her dinner with Joey. However, briefly there is one that has been pinned back, then reappears. *Brooke Shields later guest starred in a dream sequence as the mother of Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) in the Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana. Also, the actor who played Dean Lipson, Fred Willard, also appeared on Disney Channel as well as Brooke Shields, but on Wizards of Waverly Place, as a half-human, half-gargoyle creature, Mr. Stuffleby. *It's obvious that Jennifer can't keep a straight face as she turns her head away from the camera on several occasions. Episode Navigation Category:Friends Category:Friends Episodes Category:Season 2 Category:Season 2 Episodes Category:Episodes